Bench Press Form Check

[Chris Lippke]

Salut! I've never been coached on this lift. I know it's technically simpler than the other ones, and that's why I want to make sure I'm not missing something. How does it look, please?

[Steve Hill]

It looks like, from the angle of your upper arms, that you might be touching too high up your chest. But the camera angle might be deceiving since the touch point on your chest appears correct. As long as you're not burning a hole in your rotator cuff, I'd stick with it as is. If you feel some impingement, move down your chest some for your touch point.

[spacediver]

Is it advisable to hold your breath for the entire set? Assuming you could do it without experiencing enough air hunger that your form suffers (clearly the OP is able to here), would there be any energy cost that's relevant in the timescale of a set? i.e. less oxygen means less ATP production but perhaps that's not a factor during a set.

[Steve Hill]

If the set is not heavy, sure. If the set is heavy, you're just going to top off your breath at the top of each rep - not take a full exhalation / inhalation. You do understand why we exhale - right? There's still plenty of O2 in the air we exhale. It's not all used up. Even if we hold our breath for 30s.

[Dag]

It looks like, from the angle of your upper arms, that you might be touching too high up your chest. But the camera angle might be deceiving since the touch point on your chest appears correct. As long as you're not burning a hole in your rotator cuff, I'd stick with it as is. If you feel some impingement, move down your chest some for your touch point.

Yeah, it's hard to tell. To me, the touch point looks pretty close for his upper arm angle. I like a lower touch and more elbow tuck but that's just me and my aging shoulders.

Edit. I'm on my phone and it isn't always obvious what forum I'm in. I apologize for responding in the SS coaches forum. I'll be more observant in the future.

[Chris Lippke]

Is it advisable to hold your breath for the entire set? Assuming you could do it without experiencing enough air hunger that your form suffers (clearly the OP is able to here), would there be any energy cost that's relevant in the timescale of a set? i.e. less oxygen means less ATP production but perhaps that's not a factor during a set.

For comparison:
The original post in this thread was the 5th set of a volume day (90% of same week's 1x5RM). Here's a video from an intensity day a couple weeks ago (it's weird-looking cuz it was shot with a wide-angle with the fish-eye removed in post). I top-off after 3, again after 4, and again after 5 as I go for a 6th. The ones after 4 and 5 look like long ones, time-wise, but I keep the breaths fairly shallow; it's like "out-in-out-IN-HOLD!"

[Steve Hill]

Posting videos taken from weird angles or with some type of distortion is not helpful. I'm seeing two (potential) issues here, and I can't tell if it's the angle, the lens distortion, or if they are, in fact, really there.

BENCH PRESS
1) Usually shot best from above the head of the lifter looking down at a 45 degree angle (from where the spotter would stand), although from the side is good as long as we can see where the bar touches the chest, as well as the end of the bar.

[spacediver]

If the set is not heavy, sure. If the set is heavy, you're just going to top off your breath at the top of each rep - not take a full exhalation / inhalation. You do understand why we exhale - right? There's still plenty of O2 in the air we exhale. It's not all used up. Even if we hold our breath for 30s.

Thanks. I had it in my head that even though there's O2 left, there's not as much as with a fresh breath, and rate of O2 diffusion into blood might be less. But this was just a hunch. I get that exhaling is important for C02 removal.

[Chris Lippke]

Posting videos taken from weird angles or with some type of distortion is not helpful. I'm seeing two (potential) issues here, and I can't tell if it's the angle, the lens distortion, or if they are, in fact, really there.

That's why I didn't post it here as a legit form check. I just wanted to show spacedriver how I breath during a heavy set.

[Steve Hill]

That's why I didn't post it here as a legit form check. I just wanted to show spacedriver how I breath during a heavy set.

OK, got it. Its helpful if you can quote who/what youre responding to.